Last week, local IHL students got a crash course in being China-ready through a three-day immersive experience held at SMU from 14 May to 16 May — from exploring Alibaba Cloud’s AI Workshop to diving into masterclasses on China’s evolution.
Here are some fun and surprising takeaways from the programme:
Visual literacy is everywhere — the design of a Chagee tea cup is meant to symbolise the ancient tea horse road, the path that carried tea from Yunnan to the rest of the world
Titles matter, and so does knowing when to use them — In China, you’ll hear “老师”, “总”, and even “哥/姐”. “老师” is a respectful term for peers or professionals, “总” is for higher-ups, and “哥/姐” is reserved for when you’ve built real rapport